Bold Banter: Is School Choice Good For America?

Bold Banter is a series that gives our readers an opportunity to explore opposing views on today’s most divisive topics. Today, we’re looking at charter schools and school choice and exploring whether present trends have been good or bad for America’s schoolchildren.

Imagine you lived in a system where all parents choose which school their child attends.

Just like when selecting a college or shopping for another significant service provider, parents can consider many factors. Location is big consideration — most want something close to home to avoid long commutes to school. But they also look at a school’s philosophy, the teaching method, the types of support they offer, and the unique needs of their child as they make their decision.

Unfortunately, that’s not how it works today. Instead we live in a system in which parents’ residence–which is highly correlated with income–largely determines what school most children attend. This is our norm.

Unless parents can pay private-school tuition, or are lucky enough to live somewhere with charter schools and win a spot there, the only way these families can control where their kids go to school is to change their residency. And many parents take that option and make tremendous financial sacrifices to live where their children get to attend “good” schools. But many other parents can’t afford the costs of moving, let alone paying rent or buying a house in those favored school districts.

It shouldn’t be this way. Parents deserve more options and control over where their children attend school. They shouldn’t be trapped in a school that doesn’t meet their child’s needs. And schools — like any other service provider — should have the incentive of responding to their customers’ needs and providing real value.

The good news is that more states and localities are recognizing that a one-size-fits-all, location-based schooling system doesn’t work for our diverse student population today. They are embracing charter laws so that educators can create new, alternative schools for some students. They are giving parents more choice among public schools.

Rather than having the government dictate where students must attend school, parents should be given options and allowed to choose a school — whether it’s a private, charter or traditional public school — that makes the most sense for their child and family.

Overwhelmingly, research shows that increased competition among schools is leading to better school performance and better outcomes for students.

For example, students in Michigan, including minority students living in poverty, have had higher rates of success in charter schools than in conventional public schools.

In a 2013 study, Stanford University’s Center for Research on Education Outcomes found that students in Michigan enrolled in charter schools receive a better education in math and reading and learn more in a year’s time than those who attend public schools.

Likewise, a 2015 study, also out of Stanford, included an additional year of data in the analysis and concluded that charter school students outperform their public-school peers.

With success like this, it’s no surprise that a study from Mathematica Policy Research found that students who attend a charter school are, on average, more likely to enroll in college and are more likely achieve higher earnings as adults.

We would never accept allowing the government to assign our family to use one hospital, one grocery store, one home builder or one college. Why should we accept this when it comes to elementary and high school?

“School choice.” It’s hard to argue with something that on its face sounds so obviously positive, right? It’s like the term “pro-life.” Don’t we all value life? Don’t we all value the ability to make choices about our family’s education? But the term is misleading, just like lots of the rhetoric surrounding it.

The basic premise of school choice is that states can take taxpayer money that would go to traditional public schools and use some of it to fund charter schools or to give vouchers that parents can use to send their kid to private or parochial schools. The idea is that this allows students to opt out of failing school systems and to better specialize their education based on their specific needs and talents. On its surface, it sounds great. But it doesn’t always work.

The idea of choice is certainly appealing, and when done right, a charter school can be a great option for the right family. But allowing for poorly regulated school choice means that the existence of subpar charter schools is a reality, and we’re permitting taxpayer dollars to go toward funding those schools rather than fortifying the traditional public education system. And, in that case, no good choices remain.